Tirana Times, September 02, 2026 — The resignation of Health and Social Welfare Minister Evis Sala after less than a year in office has opened a new political controversy, with the opposition alleging that her departure followed a dispute over government plans to restructure the health sector.
Sala announced Wednesday that she was leaving Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government after accepting what she described as important international commitments in oncology, artificial intelligence and innovation.
“Today was my last meeting as a member of the government Cabinet,” Sala said in a video message.
She thanked Rama for his trust and support and said her commitment to Albania would continue despite leaving office.
“Positions have a beginning and an end. But responsibility and the connection with your country have no limits,” Sala said.
Almost immediately, Democratic Party lawmaker Belind Këlliçi offered a different explanation.
A ‘parallel Health Ministry’
Këlliçi claimed Sala resigned after refusing to sign draft legislation that would create a new structure with extensive powers over Albania’s health system.
“Evis Sala left to open the way for handing health care over to Rama’s Israeli friend,” Këlliçi wrote, referring to businessman Sani Sanilevich, whom he described as a close associate of the prime minister.
According to Këlliçi, the new entity would control medicines, medical equipment, procurement, storage and distribution, functioning in practice as a “parallel Ministry of Health.”
“The draft law, which is currently being prepared and is expected to pass when the parliamentary session begins, opens the way for a major business operation involving medicines, medical equipment and every logistical and strategic operation,” Këlliçi said.
He claimed Sala opposed the project and refused to sign it.
Neither Sala nor Rama has confirmed that such a dispute was behind the resignation, and Këlliçi’s allegations have not been independently proven.
Still, the claims have shifted attention from Sala’s official explanation toward the government’s plans for reorganizing health sector management.
Questions over Sanilevich
Këlliçi placed Sani Sanilevich at the center of his accusations.
He described him as an Israeli Albanian businessman close to Rama and noted that he serves as an honorary consul of Albania and is a founder and shareholder of Jet Bank, the country’s first digital bank.
Këlliçi alleged that Sanilevich and his business partners have expanding interests in Albania and are now targeting the health sector.
According to the opposition lawmaker, those interests could extend beyond a private hospital to medicines, equipment and health sector logistics.
No evidence has been publicly presented showing that Sanilevich would control the proposed entity or that interests connected to him caused Sala’s resignation.
But the allegations raise questions about who could benefit from the restructuring and how much authority the new structure would receive.
Këlliçi called on Albania’s Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organized Crime, SPAK, to examine the project, describing it as potentially more serious than the controversial sterilization and health check concessions.
From academia to politics
Sala’s departure is also significant because of her professional background.
A prominent academic and internationally recognized medical specialist, she joined Rama’s government a year ago after a long career in medicine, oncology and academic research.
Her appointment was presented as a technocratic choice and an example of Rama’s efforts to bring internationally experienced Albanian professionals into government.
In her departure message, Sala said important reforms had begun during her tenure, citing oncology, modernization of medical services, artificial intelligence and innovation.
Her statement made no reference to disagreements with Rama, procurement disputes or the proposed new health structure.
Corruption in the background
The controversy comes against the broader record of Albania’s health sector, which for years has faced allegations involving public procurement, concessions, pharmaceutical contracts and private business interests.
The sterilization and health check concessions have been among the most controversial health projects under Rama’s governments and have also been subject to criminal investigations.
During Sala’s time in office, accusations and concerns over procurement continued, although there has been no judicial finding of wrongdoing by Sala herself.
That distinction is important.
The controversy is not about a proven corruption case involving the outgoing minister. It centers instead on the claim that she resisted a new institutional arrangement that critics say could concentrate major financial and administrative powers in one entity.
If that claim is true, her resignation would have implications far beyond a routine Cabinet change.
If it is not, the government still faces questions about what the proposed structure will do, who will control it and how conflicts of interest will be prevented.
A resignation with wider implications
For Rama, Sala’s departure is politically uncomfortable. It also raises broader questions about the role of technocratic appointments in a system where politics, public procurement and powerful business interests often intersect.
The central questions now go beyond Sala herself. Will the new entity be created? Will it control medicines, medical equipment and procurement? Who will run it, and what role, if any, will private business interests play?
When Sala entered government, she said in a television interview that “adrenaline” was one of the reasons she had accepted the position of health minister.
Less than a year later, she has resigned.
The adrenaline may have ended for Sala, but the political controversy surrounding Albania’s health system is only beginning.
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